Louise Shanahan from Cork finishes 6th in Youth Olympics in China

A team of five Irish athletes traveled to Nanjing in China for the Youth Olympic Games. They were...Michaela Walsh (Shot Put), Roseanna McGuckian (200m), Eoin Sheridan (Discus), Adam King (Hammer) & Louise Shanahan (800m). Irish results in this earlier post.

L-R...Adam King, Eoin Sheridan, Louise Shanahan, Michaela Walsh & Roseanna McGuckian

Three of the five athletes recorded new personal bests at the Games including 17 year old Louise Shanahan of Leevale AC in Cork. In 2013, Louise won Gold in the 800m at the European Youth Olympic Festival in the Netherlands. At the Athletics Ireland Track & Field Championships in July, Louise won a national bronze medal at a senior level. In the Youth Olympics last Wednesday, she finished 2nd in her heat to qualify for the final on Saturday in which she ran a new PB of 2:08.29 to finish 6th.

Another member of the squad setting personal bests was Adam King of Iveragh AC in Kerry. His throw of 71.91 metres in the Hammer saw him get through to the A final. There was a recent article in the Irish Examiner about Adam and how as a former GAA player, he got into this aspect of  athletics....“I’ve always been into athletics and about four years ago on a summer camp in Castleisland we were given the chance to try out the different events, hurdling, long jump and so on. And that was how I started hammer throwing.” . There could be a lesson in there for other clubs and counties.

Schedule for Irish athletes at the Youth Olympic Games in China - 20th-24th Aug 2014

A team of five Irish athletes are traveling to Nanjing in China for the Youth Olympic Games with the athletics programme starting on Wednesday the 20th of August.

L-R...Michaela Walsh, Roseanna McGuckian, Eoin Sheridan, Adam King & Louise Shanahan

This is the schedule for the 5 Irish athletes...(Updated Sun 24th Aug @9:23pm)

Louise Shanahan of Leevale AC - 800m
Wed 20th...Heat 1 @14:15 Irish time...Louise finishes 2nd in the 1st heat in a seasons best time of 2:09.58. As one of the fastest finishers, she goes through to the final.

Sat 23rd...Final A...Louise runs a new personal best time of 2:08.29 to finish 6th in the A final.

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Adam King of Iveragh AC - Hammer
Thurs 21st...Qualifying Round...In the qualifying round, Adam King threw a new personal best of 71.91 metres and finished 8th out of 15. The 8 shown below including Adam go through to the 'A' final.

Sun 24th...Final A...Adam King finishes in a very credible 8th place in the A final of the Youth Olympics. He came within 42 cms of his PB which he threw a few days earlier.

Additional info...
Article from the Irish Examiner on Adam King...19th Aug 2014

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Eoin Sheridan of North Westmeath AC - Discus

Wed 20th...Qualifying Round @13:20 Irish time...Eoin finished 12th in the qualifying round with a throw of 53.63m. His personal and seasons best was 58.44m. Eoin goes through to the B final.

Sat 23rd...Final B...Eoin finished 5th in the B final for the discus. Unfortunately he was some bit short of his seasons best and PB of 58.44m.

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Michaela Walsh of Swinford AC - Shot Put
Thurs 21st...Qualifying Round...With just 8 out of the 15 in the qualifying round to go through to the 'A' final, Michaela Walsh managed a new PB in her final effort to secure her place.

Sun 24th...Final A...In the A final, Michaela Walsh improved on her previous best set a few days ago with a new PB of 15.69m. She finished a very credible 6th at the Youth Olympics.

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Roseanna McGuckian of City of Lisburn AC - 200m
Fri 22nd...Heats...As you can see below, Roseanna finished 3rd in heat #2.  There were 4 faster than her in heat 1 and 3 faster in heat 2 so as 10th fastest, she goes through to the B final. Her seasons best and personal best is 24.38 which if reproduced would have been 4th fastest on the day.

Sun 24th...Final B...Roseanna finished 3rd in the B final with a time of 25.15s.

More information can be found at http://www.nanjing2014.org/en/en_sports/GamestimeResults.htm

Results & Photos of the Leevale Track & Field Meet - Sat 5th Apr 2014

The senior races of annual Leevale Track and Field Meet was held at the CIT track on Saturday the 5th of Apr 2014. Conditions were a bit on the damp side for most of the competition.

Some results...
Mens 100m...David Hynes of Menapians AC in Wexford ran a time of 11.22 seconds, just ahead of Marcus Lawler of St.Lawerence O'Toole AC in 11.26.
Womens 100m....Phil Healy of Bandon AC who won a silver medal back in February at the National Senior Indoor Championships was the winner on this occasion over 100m with a time of 12.24 seconds. Kelly Proper of Ferrybank AC in Waterford AC was second with 12.30.

Mens 200m...This time, it was Marcus Lawler who took first with a time of 21.87 seconds.
Womens 200m...Sarah Lavin who is one of the country top hurdlers took the win in the 200m sprint with a time of 24.85 seconds, just ahead of Kelly Proper in 24.98.

Sarah Lavin (R) edging out Kelly Proper in the womens 200m sprint. Pic: Gearóid Ó Laoi

In the 400m races, Paul Murphy of Ferrybank AC won the mens race in 48.65 seconds while Jenna Bromell of Emerald AC in Limerick won the womens race in 56.89.

Mens 800m...In the mens race, Damian Landers of St.Johns AC won in a time of 1:56.95 with Liam Hennessy in second place with 1:57.13.
Womens 800m...In the womens 800m, 17 year old Louise Shanahan of Leevale AC ran a tactical race staying behind her team mate Clare McSweeney for most of the race before putting in a strong kick with about 120m to go to finish well ahead of the rest of the field. Louise's time was 2:11.01 with Nadia Power in second place with 2:13.54.

In the mens 1500m race, Conor Walter of Leevale AC won in 4:01.48 while in the mens 3000m, Ben Thistlewood of Leevale AC won in 8:48.77.
In the womens 3000m, Sinead O'Connor of Leevale AC won in a time of 10:12.53.

Sinead O'Connor and Ben Thistlewood of Leevale AC...respective winners of the womens and mens 3000m race. Pic : Gearoid O'Laoi

In the mens 110m hurdles, Edmond O'Halloran won in 16.48 seconds while in the womens 100m hurdles, Sarah Lavin had her second win of the day with a time of 14.05s, a full second ahead of Shannon Dawkins in seconds place.

Full results can be seen in this PDF document.

Photos...
1) Gearóid Ó Laoi has a gallery of photos HERE
2) Doug Minihane has a gallery of photos HERE

Young Cork athletes win titles at the 2013 Celtic Games in Wales...

At the 2013 Celtic Games in Wales on Saturday the 3rd of August 2013, a number of athletes from Cork won their respective competitions. They were part of a large Irish team that took part in the event.

High Jump...U18...David Cussen from Old Abbey AC in Cork was the clear winner with a jump of 2.10 metres matching his personal best.

Long Jump...U18...Sam Healy of Leevale AC finished first with a jump of 6.81 metres.

800m...U18...Louise Shanahan of Leevale AC finished first in 2m 13.34s.

100m hurdles...U16...Jack Murphy of Leevale AC finished second in a time of 13.77 seconds.

Team events...U18 Women 4x100m Relay...The Irish team finished first in a time of 47.99 seconds...Sarah-Kate LACEY Shannen DAWKINS Annie STAFFORD Niamh MCNICHOLL

The full results can be seen HERE

Louise Shanahan from Cork wins Gold at the European Youth Olympic Festival

Last week, a 16 strong Irish team travelled to compete at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands between the 14th and 19th of July.

In the girls 3,000m race, Síobhra O'Flaherty took 25 seconds off her previous personal best time to win the Silver medal in 9:42.47, less than a second away from the Gold. In the boys 1,500m final, William Crowe won Silver in a time of 3:39.08, just two seconds behind the Gold. In the girls 200m final, Roseanna McGuckian won the bronze medal in a time of 24.42 seconds, taking one tenth of a second off her previous best set in the semi-finals. Roseanna who has just turned 16 years old was already the 37th fastest on the Irish Womens Alltime list after running 24.54 back in June. Her new PB now makes her 27th fastest and will no doubt be moving up the rankings over the next few years.

In the girls 4 x 100m relay, the Irish team of Phoebe Murphy (Clonmel AC), Niamh McNicol, Laura-Ann Costello and Roseanna McGuckian finished first in a time of 46.55 seconds.

The star individual performance was from Louise Shanahan (Leevale AC) from Cork who won gold in the girls 800m final. Starting in lane 7, Louise took the inside track from early on and went through 400m in joint third. While most of the field kicked from about 200m out for the finish, Louise then in 5th position waited until about 120 metres and powered down the home straight to take Gold while the rest of the field were fading badly.



A well executed race and no doubt we'll see Louise making great strides in the years ahead.